Let’s Review The Basics Of Layering To Deal With Changing Weather. Here in New England, temperatures swing high and low a lot lately, with 50-degree-plus spikes and heavy rains interposing snow squalls and blizzards. This winter seems hell-bent on convincing the last climate change denier that something weird is going on. Accurately assessing atmospheric conditions for a day on the[Read More…]
Airborne Family Members. Who is airborne? Can you guess where? Hint: We can’t tell you the name of the museum that contributed this picture. Know why? Last Week Only one reader got this one. The enthusiastic boarder is Shannon Dunn-Downing, the first U.S. woman to win an Olympic snowboard medal with a halfpipe bronze in 1998. Shannon was the first woman[Read More…]
When this passage (below) from The Mountains of Youth (1925) by Arnold Lunn was published, “skiing” still had a hyphen and “ski” was both the singular and plural form. Lunn (1888-1974) invented downhill and slalom racing, introducing them when the sport was mostly jumping and nordic racing. Lunn was knighted in 1952 “. . . for services to British skiing.”[Read More…]
Last Minute Gift, Tell-Tale Hoar Frost, Jim Gaddis Profile, Mystery Boarder, Seasons Greetings. If you’re caught empty-handed and about to head to another senior ski friend’s party, consider ordering and instantly downloading a copy of Ray Conrad’s classic collection of ski songs, The Cotton-Pickin’ Lift Tower and Other Ski Songs. Ray wrote and recorded these songs ‘way back in the[Read More…]
Some interesting comments on last week’s Short Swings! asking if older skiers and boarders are invisible to the people making business decisions about skiing. Reader Rich Spritz, a Breckenridge instructor, wrote that seniors don’t spend money and it makes sense that, resorts, being businesses, don’t give seniors their attention. There’s no question that the group he describes exists. I see[Read More…]
A Tell-Tale Sign To Watch For In Avalanche Country. As the weather in the Northeast has gradually become colder over the last few weeks, I have noticed the soil in my garden develops into crystalized patterns such as those in the picture below: Of course, as the weather starts to turn cooler, I naturally start to think about skiing. As[Read More…]
Who Is She? What Makes Her Special? A competitor, a snowboarder (obviously), a woman. See if you can put these clues together. Once again, thanks to the Colorado Snowsport Museum in Vail, CO., for this contribution. Put your guess in comments below. Last Week This artifact is a United States Forest Service avalanche control gun sight. It was used by[Read More…]
Cozy Feet. Happy Skier. That’s the headline for the APEX Ski Boot System advertisement at the right of this article. It’s worth taking notice…especially with the unusual, limited time 20% discount to SeniorsSkiing.com readers. In a reader survey from a few years ago, we asked which new equipment you intended to purchase in the coming season. 25% of you responded[Read More…]
Here’s a picture of the birthday cake that, along with a lot of other things, surprised me last weekend. The side you don’t see had pine trees around the bottom. Looked good and tasted delicious. If you have a ski-related cake or other confection you’d like to share with the SeniorsSkiing.com community, send a picture to jon@seniorsskiing.com or mike@seniorsskiing.com.
No Matter What You Are Sliding On, Basic Athletic Principles Apply. When I was a boy, my dad knew a woman who was a former USGA Senior Amateur Champion from South Carolina named Carol Cudone. She constantly reminded my dad to finish his golf swing with his “belly button to the ball.” Ultimately she was trying to get my dad[Read More…]
Hint: It’s Government Issue. Thanks again to the Colorado Snowsports Museum in Vail, CO, for contributing this photo to our series. A special shout-out to curator Dana Mathios for picking some interesting relics and for providing answers to the “glimpse”. The collection at the Colorado Snowsports Museum tells the story of the explosive rise of skiing in the Colorado Rockies,[Read More…]
Are older skiers and boarders invisible to the people making business decisions about skiing? Unless, you’re a marketer selling reverse mortgages, extended care facilities, pharmaceuticals, or walk-in bathtubs, most companies ignore our market segment. In the world of skiing corporate ski area consolidators are eliminating senior discounts, and ski makers haven’t bothered to present a product designed and presented for[Read More…]
If you’re still looking for something different and/or special for older snow enthusiasts, the following suggestions are discounted for SeniorsSkiing.com followers and can be ordered online. APEX Boot System is offering 20% off retail for SeniorsSkiing.com readers. This is the boot many olderskiers are talking about. It’s a good performer, comfortable, and let’s you walk with ease. No issues getting[Read More…]
SKI Magazine Ski Testers Meet The Sundance Kid. Back in the early ‘70s, SKI Magazine (remember it?) developed a program called SKIpp that stood for “ski performance prediction” developed by the late John Perryman. He was a talented engineer who spent years in aerospace and worked with Howard Head at Head Ski Company. SKIpp had two parts, the laboratory analysis[Read More…]
Weather Factoids, Driving School, PA Trail Names, Utah Poet, Special Birthday For Klaus. Busy week here at SeniorsSkiing.com. We attended the Northeast Winter Weather Summit at Stratton Mountain, VT, and met with meteorologists, ski resort operators, and lots of journalists to discuss matters of mutual interest. And we picked up some amazing fun facts from hanging around with some weather[Read More…]
Twenty-seven thousand, three hundred and ninety-four days. Exactly, nine hundred months. On Wednesday I turned 75. For all but the first nine years, skiing has been my passion. Two things about me contribute to this craziness: I love being outside in the cold, and what I lack in athleticism, I’ve made up for with persistence. In Okemo’s early days, when[Read More…]
An Eye-Opening Lesson From Team O’Neil Rally School About Spinning Tires And Traction Control In Snow. At this past week’s Northeast Winter Weather Summit held at Stratton Mountain, VT., we had a chance to do some driving, spinning, skidding, and generally driving like a cowboy home from the range on a controlled, enclosed test area with mixed conditions: gravel, ice,[Read More…]
A Wonderful Cartoon From Mike Roth, Ski Journalist From Albany. Mike writes and draws cartoons for the Albany Times-Union Ski Blog. This one is about Smuggler’s Notch’s Doc Dempsey’s run.
Extrovert, Powder Puff, and The Elevator Spend a little time looking at resort maps and you’re sure to find some attention-grabbing trail names. When I looked at Pennsylvania resorts I found some beauties. Powder Puff and The Elevator at Jack Frost along with Extrovert at Blue Knob topped the list. Among the best is High Hopes also at Blue Knob.[Read More…]
Who Is The Airborne Skier? What’s His Story? Do You Know His Hometown? This week, we made the Mystery Glimpse a little more challenging. Name this high flyer. Tell us about him and (hint) how he met his unfortunate and untimely end. Okay that’s hard. Here’s another one of this celebrated personage. These photos come from the collection of the[Read More…]
Klaus Obermeyer, the legendary skier and innovator, whose eponymous ski clothing brand is found almost everywhere, recently has his 99th birthday. The following interview with Klaus appeared in SeniorsSkiing.com, January 27, 2017: “It’s Easier To Ski Than To Walk.” Klaus Obermeyer is a skiing legend and innovator. The 97 year old founded Sport Obermeyer Ltdbased on insights about ski wear[Read More…]
A Senior’s Introduction To Some Of The Best Skiing In Japan. The Hakuba Valley sits three hours west of downtown Tokyo and boasts some of the best skiing in all of Asia. Host to the 1998 Winter Olympics, Hakuba offers a unique combination of diverse terrain spread out over 11 resorts, 12 meters of annual snowfall, world class facilities, and[Read More…]
They’re Lucky To Be In The Mountains And Not Where They Were. This should be relatively easy. Who are these chaps? What are they doing? Where are they doing it? When? Look closely. There are clues you can see. Thanks, again, to the Colorado Snowsports Museum and Hall of Fame for contributing this picture. The museum’s website has some well-researched[Read More…]
Skiing Binds Friends Together; Don’t Skip A Trip. One of the great things about the sport of skiing is that it is a conduit for friendships. There is nothing like the anticipation of the weekly get together with friends or the ski trip with pals that you have skied with for over 40 years. There’s a buzz: the excitement, the[Read More…]
Free (Or Almost Free) Skiing Directory, Skis For Seniors Recommendations, Chile Wrap, Trail Name Series, Ski History Gala, Skiing In Skirts. Happy Thanksgiving On The Snow! For the first time in recent memory, there are plenty of lifts spinning in New England areas and in Colorado and other places in the West. The recent East Coast Nor’easter brought a snow[Read More…]
